Window ledge air conditioning unit



April 23, 1940. 5 w JEWELL 2,198,500

wnwow LEDGE AIR CONDITIONING UNIT Filed Dec. 8, 193s & 11v VENTOR fla /may /1. c/EWfLL BY A TTORNEY Patented Apr.. 23, 1940 a sssoo wmnow LEDGE AIR. conmrronmc om'r Bernard W. Jewell, Dayton, Ohio, assignor to Chrysler Corporation, Detroit, Mich a corporation of Delaware Application December 8, 1938, Serial No. 244,629

/ 3 Claims. (Cl. 62-140) My present invention relates to the art of air conditioning and comprises an improved type of window ledge air conditioning unit by means of which room air is conditioned by the expansion of refrigerant which has been condensed by the passage of outside air over the surface of the condenser.

It is an object of my invention to obtain as compact an arrangement of refrigerating apparatus and air handling apparatus as possible in a unit of this type in order that space may be,

economically used and in order that as little window space may be occupied as possible so that the room will not be unnecessarily darkened by the exclusion of light. It has always been a problem in air cooled systems to dispose of moisture condensed on the evaporator coil, since there is no connection to existing drainage systems, and since the moisture must be disposed of s as fast as it accumulates. An object of my invention is to provide apparatus whereby the moisture is readily ejected into the outside air, by means of entraining it with previously heated outside air and blowing it across a portion of the condenser. A further object of my invention is to obtain the greatest cooling eifect possible in apparatus of the type disclosed.

The principal object of my invention is to provide means for slowly passing the room air over as large a coil as possible in order that transfer of heat from the room air to the coil is permitted in a unit handling a small quantity of air, and in order that properly cooled air may be discharged at low velocity into the room. This object is principally obtained by the use of a relatively narrow and long coil, the outer face of which is fully exposed to the room atmosphere.

Obviously, such an arrangement would be unsightly if the coil were placed in eitheran end wall or the front wall of the unit,and I make the arrangement possible-while preserving its neat and attractive appearance by placing the coil in the wall of the unit facing the exterior of the room and providing a space between the window. and the unit through which room air may be drawn into the coil to be conditioned.

A further object of my invention is to minimize the cost of a small room cooling unit by making the condenser coil thereof serve not only as a condensing means but as a means to exclude rain and wind-blown articles from entering the unit. It is usual practice to provide louvres or shutter arrangements to keep rain from coming into the interior 'ofthe unit, whereas in my construction I have achieved this result by causing the usual motor.

vanes of a condenser coil to act not only as heat transferring means but as louvres to exclude the rain and wind-blown objects.

Referring to the drawing, Fig. 1 is an end view of my improved apparatus when in position on a window ledge; and Fig. 2 is a front view of the apparatus.

Preferably the unit comprises a base portion H] which houses condensing apparatus and which is provided with a supporting plate l2 which is cast or otherwise conveniently formed to provide a support for the condensing apparatus, and a conditioning portion II which houses air conditioning apparatus and which rests upon the base portion Ill. The division between the two portions is preferably provided by a shaped plate l3 which projects out of the room to form a drainage lip to direct rain water running down the window panes away from the unit and provides an upper support for the condensing coil H. The intermediate portion of the plate I3 is preferably provided with a sump within which the lower edge 01' the evaporator coil i 5 is positioned, and the front portions of the plate provide a support for the air conditioning blower or air moving means 56. The plate l3 not only divides the two portions of the apparatus but thus serves as moisture collecting means to collect moisture condensed from the air by the evaporator 15. The two portions are preferably housed within an attractive casting 20 which may be designed and painted to blend with the room furnishings, and the entire unit is preferably supported in a window ledge by brackets 2| attached to the base plate l2 and a flange 22 on the base plate l2 which hooks over the usual sash guide 23 of a window ledge, and by the sash 24 of the usual window resting upon the plate l3 or upon a moulded rubber insulating strip 25 placed on the plate l3. It becomes. obvious that the condenser coil I I substantially occupies the space made by raising the window to the height of the condenser coil and thereby provides means to exclude foreign objects. The unit is not meant to be limited to use in connection with a vertically raising window since it may be placed in any opening properly provided for the purpose of bringing in exterior air.

The condensing apparatus comprises the coil 14, a compressor 30, a motor 3| driving the compressor, and a blower 32 mounted upon the shaft connection between the compressor and the The compressor and motor occupy the end spaces of the base portion of the unit and he blower occupies the central portion thereof or substantially the central portion thereof, in order that exterior air may be drawn through the end portions of the condenser coil and across the compressor and the motor to thereby cool refrigerant in the end portions of the condenser coil and to cool the motor and compressor, then through the inlets 33 and 34 of the blower to be ejected through the central portion of the condenser. The stream of air ejected through the central portion of the condenser will obviously be much hotter than the air entering through the end portions, but this portion of the condenser may be cooled as much, if not more, than the end portions by entraining the condensed moisture from the evaporator coil with the ejected stream of air. This may be done by draining the moisture through a tube 35 which extends to the inlet 33 in order that the vacuum produced by the fan will pull the moisture into the blower where it will be mechanically beaten into a fine spray and spread over the surface of the condenser coil.

The refrigerant which is compressed by the compressor 30 is preferably passed through a tube 40 leading to the condenser coil from which the condenser refrigerant passes through a tube 4| leading to a float valve 42 provided in the conditioning compartment. The proper amount of refrigerant is permitted to pass into the evaporator coil through a tube 43, and after the refrigerant has expanded and performed its work, it is returned to the compressor through a tube 44. This type of system is a conventional type and details of the same need not be illustrated for proper understanding. It is to be noted, however, that the compressor, compressor motor,

blower 32, and condenser l4 may be assembled on the base plate l2 as a sub-unit upon which the moisture collecting plate l3 carrying the sub-unit comprising the evaporator coil l5, float valve 42, blower l6 and blower motor 50, assembled as a second sub-unit, may be placed. The tubes 40, Al and 44 are for this purpose provided with substantial looped portions in order that the tubes may be bent into position and fastened to the respective apparatus which they serve after the two sub-units have been assembled.

In order to present a neat appearance and properly direct the air, the surface of the cabinet 20 may be die-shaped to provide louvres 55 adjacent the outlet of the blower 16, it being apparent that these louvres are the only ones on with the unit whereas most units have several sets of louvres, each of which is expensive to manufacture and process. provided beneath the louvres 55 from which the I switches 6|, for operation of the apparatus, project toward the front of the unit.

The evaporator coil i5 preferably comprises a long narrow coil lying substantially parallel to the plane of the condenser coil l4 and the window, but being inwardly spaced from the plane of the condenser coil M in order to provide a space between the window and the evaporator through which room air may be drawn through the evaporator and into the blower l8 in order to be conditioned and circulated. It is apparent that the evaporator I5 is thus hidden from sight and serves as its own louvring means. An advantage of this arrangement is that the dust which ordinarily collects on the inlet side of a conditioning system is not exposed to accidental contact or sight.

Hav ing disclosed and described the preferre embodiment of my invention it should be appar- A switch box is preferably ent to those skilled in the art that modifications and detail thereof are permissible within the scope of the following claims. Any such modification is considered to be a part of my invention.

I claim: I

l. A window ledge air conditioning unit comprising a base portion adapted to rest on a window ledge and a conditioning portion project: ing upwardly from said base portion, said base portion being so constructed and arranged as to extend substantially entirely into the room from the plane of the window and said base portion housing condensing apparatus comprising a condenser located substantiallyin the plane of the window when said unit is in position on a window ledge, a motor, a compressor driven by said motor and in refrigerant transferring relationship with said condenser, and a blower adapted to draw outside air into the base portion through part of the condenser and to eject the outside air through another part of the condenser, and said conditioning portion housing an evaporator in refrigerant flow relationship with said compressor and condenser and located inwardly from the condenser whereby to leave a space between the evaporator and the window from which room air may be drawn through the evaporator, and means to effect such movement of room air.

2. A window ledge air conditioning unit comprising a base portion adapted to rest on a window ledge and a conditioning portion projecting .upwardly from said base portion, said base portion being so constructed and arranged as to extend substantially entirely into theroom from the plane of the window and said base portion housing condensing apparatus comprising a condenser located substantially in the plane of the window when said unit is in position on a window ledge, a motor, a compressor driven by said motor and in refrigerant transferring relationship with said condenser, and a blower driven by said motor and located between said motor and said condenser, said blower being adapted to draw outside air into the base portion through the ends of the condenser and over said motor and compressor and to eject the outside air through the central part of the condenser, and said conditioning portion housing an evaporator in refrigerant flow relationship with said compressor and condenser and located substantially parallel to but spaced inwardly from the condenser whereby to leave a space between the evaporator and the 'window from which room air may be drawn through the evaporator, and means to effect such movement of room air.

3. A window ledge air conditioning unit comprising a base portion adapted to rest on a window ledge, a conditioning portion projecting upwardly from said base portion, and condensate collecting and transferring means between said base portion and said conditioning portion. said base portion being so constructed and arranged as to extend substantially entirely into the room from the plane of the window and said base portion housing condensing apparatus comprising a condenser located substantially in the plane of the window when said unit is in place on a window ledge, a motor, a compressor driven by said motor and in refrigerant transferring relationship with said condenser, and a 'blower driven by said motor and located between said motor and said condenser, said blower being adapted to draw outside air into the base portion through the ends of the condenser and over said motor orator, and means to effect such movement or room air, and said condensate collecting and transferring means acting to entrain moisture condensed on said evaporator with the air being ejected from said base portion before contact 5 of the air with said central portion of the condenser.

BERNARD W. JEWELL- 

